Quarter-gauging shoe last and height gauge



Nov. 19, 1963 c. F. BATCHELDER ETAL 3,110,

QUARTER-GAUGING SHOE LAST AND HEIGHT GAUGE Filed D60. 5, 1962 FIG. 4

FIG. 2

3 INVENTOKS CHARLES F. BATCHELDER a JEROME A. RUBICO ilnited States Patent 3,110,915 QUARTER-GAUGTNG SHOE LAST AND HEIGHT GAUGE Charles F. Batchelder, Miitou, and Jerome A. Rubico, Boston, Mass, assiguors to Batchelder Rubico, Inc.,

Boston, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Dec. 3, 1962, Ser. No. 241,705 2 Claims. (Cl. 12-141) This invention comprises a new and improved gauging device providing a shoe last with an outstanding shoulder or gauge flange for limiting the back height or top line of the upper of a shoe to be lasted thereon. The essential feature of this invention is the combination of a shoe last and a shouldered gauge device which may be easily attached to the back end of the last or detached therefrom, and which is so constructed as to provide simple and convenient means of varying the height of the gauging face if desired.

The control of the heights of the back or counter portion of the uppers of low-cut shoe-s is a serious problem :to shoe manufacturers. Various visual aids, such as marking the backs of the last with paint, inserting a nail or making a saw out, have been used as guides to the operator who assembles the stitched upper on the last. These visual aids undoubtedly have helped to limit the number of shoes which have been lasted with incorrect back heights, but have not eliminated that fault which has caused the shoe manufacturers much subsequent trouble. Our previous inventions of United States Patents Nos. 3,027,578 and 3,027,579, and our pending application Serial No. 153,494 disclosed positive means of limiting the back heights. Our present invention is an improvement upon these heretofore known gauges.

In practice our earlier inventions have met with certain criticisms. Shoe manufiacturers have pointed out these specific drawbacks to the use of a last equipped with a fixed cap extending out over its back end:

(1) The extended permanent cap interferes with the use of the last for making a higher-backed boot, such as a Wellington, or a ski boot.

(2) The cap interferes with the crowning operation which is commonly done by makers of higher grade shoes.

(3) The height control is not adjustable, an objectionable limitation especially to those who make womens shoes.

Our present invention as herein disclosed overcomes all three of these obstacles. It incorporates the principle of the extended cap of our earlier inventions, and adds thereto the features of detachability and adjustability by using a separate height-control gauge. This gauge is formed with a crescent-shaped outstanding flange and an axial stem or peg. The gauge may he attached to the back of the last by inserting its stem into a hole drilled horizontally into the back of the last. The gauge may be made as an integral piece of any suitable material, and by various methods. We prefer to make them by injection-molding a high impact styrene plastic.

The fitting of a last to incorporate the gauge of our present invention is a very simple and inexpensive operation and may be carried out equally well either in connection with lasts now in use in a shoe factory or on new lasts during their original manufacture. When no variation or only a minor variation is desired for the height of the gauge, a single horizontal hole in the back of the last is all that is needed. If a greater range of variable heights is called for, two or more holes, spaced one above the other, may be used. We prefer to make the holes five thirty-seconds of an inch in diameter, and about five-eighths of an inch deep. The variation in the gauge height is accomplished by the use of gauge flanges differing in the position of their effective face, as further described below.

We prefer to make the gauges with outstanding flanges in the form of a half moon or crescent with rounded cusps. An overall width of about three-quarters of an inch has proven ample. An overall length or" flange of about three-eighths of an inch, measured from a chord across the points of the cusps to a tangent at the back bulge of the flange, provides for an outstanding shoulder or flange some three-sixteenths of an inch \back of the last cone. The radius for the inner arc of the crescent causes it to approximate the curve of the back of the last cone. We prefer to make the stems of the gauges about one-half inch in length, and circular in cross section, approximately five-thirty-seconds of an inch in diameter. We have found that if such stems, made of a firm plastic material, are tapered from a diameter of .160 inch where they adjoin the inner are of the flange to a diameter of .155 inch at their ends, the stems will fit tightly but removably in a hole drilled in hard wood with a drill of five-thirty seconds of an inch diameter.

To obtain a range of varying gauge heights we provide two similar but different peg gauges. The difference between the two lies in the varied vertical relationship of the upper and lower surfaces of the outstanding flange portion of each gauge in respect to the axis of its stem. As may be readily seen from the drawings, by using one or the other of the two peg gauges shown there-in and by choosing which of its flange surfaces is down, a shoemaker has a choice of four different gauge heights with only one stem-receiving hole in the back of the last.

If a shoe manufacturer wants a range of more than four various gauge heights, an additional hole or holes in the back of the last will give him four additional positions for each such hole. Shoemakers who have standard back heights for s1 their shoes of a given size need not use peg gauges formed with eccentric flanges.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in elevation of the last with an upper thereon, the cone of the last being partially sectioned,

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary top view as seen on an angle suggested by the line 2-2 of FIG. 1, and

FIGS. 35 are fragmentary views in longitudinal section of the last cone showing different arrangements of the back gauge.

The last herein shown is a conventional hinged last having a cone 10 provided with the usual sleeve 11 for reception of the spindle of the lasting machine and other machines employed in the manufacturing process. The last is provided with a row of gauge holes 13 formed in the rear surface of the cone and spaced vertically one above another.

The molded gauge includes in its structure the crescentshaped flange 15 as best shown in FIG. 2 and the stem 16 which extends forwardly from the inner concave wall of the flange 15. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5 the body of the flange 15 is of substantial thickness and shaped to present gauging faces located differently with respect to its stem 16. It is thus provided with a face 17 which is substantially flush with the lower side of the stem 16 d which when the stem is inserted in the uppermost hole 13 determines the maximum possible height line for the top edge of the upper 12. On the other hand the gauge presents an active gauging face 18 which is offset upwardly substantially above the stem '16 as shown in FIG. 1. When however the peg gauge is inserted as shown in FIG. 5 with the gauging face 18 directed 3 downwardly the top line of the counter will be gauged at a point about three-sixteenths of an inch lower than the top line determined by the gauge in the position of FIG. 1.

In FIGS. 3 and 4 is shown a peg gauge having a bow or crescent-shaped flange 29 with gauging faces 21 and 22 unequally olfset with respect to the stem 16. In the position shown in FIG. 3 the gauge face 2 2 which is offset With respect to the stem 16 by the lesser amount determines a top line for the upper one-sixteenth of an inch below the position determined by the gauge shown in FIG. 1. By reversing the position of the flange 29 the gauging face 21 determines the top line for the upper two-sixteenths of an inch below that determined by the gauge of FIG. 1.

For ease of understanding and describing the varia bie gauge heigh s we have arbitrarily shown the height variations in steps of one-sixteenth inch. It will be understood that greater or lesser steps may be obtained by u ing pegs with vertical dimensions greater or lesser than those shown in the drawings.

Seweral incidental features of this invention are advantageous to the shoe manufiaoturer and are improvemen-ts over counter-gauging lasts heretofore known and used, such as:

(1) Less cost.

(2) Ease of fitting lasts, either in the shoe factory, or for new lasts when made.

(3) Gauge flanges can be tilted to conform to the sloping top edge of the back of the uppers.

(4) Variable gauge heights.

(5) Gauges may be removed after lasting, to permit crowning and to avoid damage due to careless handling of lasts in bins.

(6) Gauges are re-usable.

(7) Gauges are easily replaced, if damaged.

(8) Lasts may be used for boots as well as low-cut. shoes.

The peg gauge herein described has the further advantage that it may be readily molded as an integral article from any one of several suitable synthetic resinous plastics, such as Teflon (polytetrafluorethylene), Kal- F (polydifiuorethylene), nylon or the like.

Having thus disclosed our invention and described in detail an illustrative embodiment thereof, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A quanter-gauging shoe last having a row of vertically spaced horizontal holes of uniform size in the rear surface of its cone, in combination with a gauge member having a shank shaped to fit all of said holes and a crescent-shaped flange formed integrally therewith and providing a substantial overhanging gauge for the top line of an upper upon the last, the said flange presenting one gauging face flush with the shank and an oppositely disposed gauging face offset with respect to the shank.

2. A quarter-gauging shoe last comprising a last having a hole extending horizontally into the back of its done, in combination with a height-gauging member having a stern axially positioned within the inner arc of an integrally formed transversely curved flange, the upper and lower surfaces of said flange portion being located at different distances above and below the axis of the stem which when inserted in a hole in the b ack of the last holds the height-gauging flange in separable relationship horizontally and outstandingly on the back of the cone of the last and at a predetermined height thereon.

Duncan Apr. 3, 1890 Shlieker July 2, 1929 

1. A QUARTER-GAUGING SHOE LAST HAVING A ROW OF VERTICALLY SPACED HORIZONTAL HOLES OF UNIFORM SIZE IN THE REAR SURFACE OF ITS CONE, IN COMBINATION WITH A GAUGE MEMBER HAVING A SHANK SHAPED TO FIT ALL OF SAID HOLES AND A CRESCENT-SHAPED FLANGE FORMED INTEGRALLY THEREWITH AND PROVIDING A SUBSTANTIAL OVERHANGING GAUGE FOR THE TOP LINE OF AN UPPER UPON THE LAST, THE SAID FLANGE PRESENTING ONE GAUGING FACE FLUSH WITH THE SHANK AND AN OPPOSITELY DISPOSED GAUGING FACE OFFSET WITH RESPECT TO THE SHANK. 